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Her mouth opened and closed, no words coming out. “Violet, please. I’ve always been there for you. Don’t do this.”
I laughed, a bitter, cutting sound. “You’ve been watchin’, waitin’ for the moment you need to cover your tracks.”
She took a step back, bumping into the table behind her, knocking over a lamp. “You don’t understand. It’s complicated. Violet, please.”
Her voice trembled. Then the wind battered something outside, making her flinch. She stepped toward the door—tried to, at least. She stumbled, her legs folding underneath her like a foal attempting to walk.
I checked my watch. In a few minutes, she’d be immobile. I spent that time watching her. Becky crawled like a cockroach, inching toward a freedom she would never taste again.
FORTY
ACHILLE
Romeo didn’t move.
He couldn’t with the blade on his neck. If he sneezed, I’d cut him. He’d bleed out within seconds. My arm banded his chest. It pulsed against me.
“You little shit,” he snarled. “You pretended to be drunk to lure me here.”
“I did.”
He frowned, his eyes darting over my face. “What’s going on?”
“I’m debating whether I should slice your throat.”
His nostrils flared. “Kill, it’s me. Your brother.”
“Yeah. It’s been you the whole time.”
He blinked. “What?”
I tightened my grip on his hair. “I looked at you dead in the eye and asked about Travis Wilson, and you lied. You worked with him on a real estate project. The girl at the party, your ex, that’s his wife.”
He grimaced. “I know.”
“He disappeared two weeks after Elise died. Is he dead?”
He gritted his teeth. “Becky took him out. I covered for her.”
“Why?”
“I’ve been working with her husband for years. I bumped into him at Afterlife. Total prick. He kept invoicing me more charges for this property we were building, so I hated the guy. Recently, I met his wife. We hit it off. I started sleeping with her. She told me all this shit about her husband, that he was an abusive monster. She showed me pictures of herself all beaten up. Who the fuck knows if it was even real. She probably put on makeup. Fuck. Anyway, she killed him and asked me for help. So I did.”
I sneered. “You hid his body?”
“I loved her.”
“For fuck’s sake, Rome.”
“I swear to God, I knew nothing about Elise…your son. Any of it. She never mentioned her while we were together. I had no idea she was friends with Violet until the party.” He licked his lips. “I’m sorry I didn’t come clean right away. I had to gather all the facts before I approached you.”
“What’d she say?” I growled.
“She brushed it off like a coincidence.”
The rage simmering within me boiled. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I knew what you’d do,” Romeo insisted, his voice tinged with desperation. “I thought I could control the situation. Keep everyone alive, but Becky’s got her own agenda.”
